Prospective Homebuyers: Time Is on Your Side

The latest reports on home sales and prices offer a complicated and conflicted picture. But when the data are taken together, one thing is clear: Weighing risk and reward, it’s worth waiting a few months to see which way the re…

October’s Home-Price Drop Keeps Housing as a Major Drag

The U.S. housing sector got another dose of sobering news Tuesday, as home prices in all 20 major cities tracked fell a worse-than-expected 1.3% in October from September. The S&P Case-Shiller index has now dropped for four str…

New-Home Sales Rise but Remain at Low Levels

One of these months, new-home sales are going to show that Americans have decisively returned to buying newly built residences. Unfortunately, November was not that month: New-home sales rose a less-than-expected 5.5% to a 290,…

November Home Sales Take Small Step Forward

Housing remains in a slow, but uncertain recovery, as existing-home sales increased a less-than-expected 5.6% last month, to a 4.68-million-unit annual rate. At least, home sales rose in every U.S. region, and inventories fell….

Housing Starts Growth Beats Expectations in November

The humbled housing sector took a modest step forward last month as starts rose a better-than-predicted 3.9% to a 530,000-unit annual rate. Still, at the current pace, the nation is 18 to 24 months from seeing normal levels of …